disney world: day two

We split up our time in Epcot and Animal Kingdom on day two. We had a late night, so we had a little later start to our day. Libby loved seeing the "giant golf ball" that she had been seeing from a distance on the monorail. {a lot more iPhone pics on this day too-- sometimes it's hard to juggle the big camera and everything else.}

Notes on Epcot:

 Send someone to Soarin' to get a fast pass right when you get there. Go in Innoventions or wait in line at the character spot while you are waiting. Eat lunch in one of the countries--We had lunch in Italy {seriously some of the best pizza!} You have to be from that country to work there-- which is kind of cool.

Things/Rides we did at Epcot:

Innoventions, spaceship earth, soarin' {this was our very favorite}, living with land, nemo, met snow white {2nd time},met Mulan in China.

Notes on Animal Kingdom:

We didn't get to do a whole lot here. It was after lunch and hot, so we hit only a few things. When you get there take note of when the Jammin' Jungle Parade is-- L loved this! Kilimanjaro Safari is a must. It's like a 15-20 minute safari. It was really cool! Maybe get a fast past if it's a long wait. We didn't get a fast past-- it was only a 10-15 minute wait though. DON'T DO DINOSAURS!! We did this-- thought it wouldn't be too bad. It was SO SCARY! Notice the picture of us during the ride-- Pretty hilarious looking at it now. And the picture shows how international DW is-- we were the only english speaking family in our car. :-)

Things/Rides we did at AK:

Kilimanjaro safari, triciar top spin, jammin' jungle parade, and dinosaurs

We went to House of Blues for dinner in downtown disney Wednesday night. DTD is a fun place to go for dinner if you are staying outside the parks.

Libby's favorite from this day was meeting snow white and mulan and watching the jammin' jungle parade. She LOVED all the parades!

bibbidi bobbidi boutique & princess dinner

Tuesday afternoon Libby had an appointment at bibbidi bobbidi boutique. This is like a girly girls dream. Hair, make up, nails, princess dress-- She LOVED it all! It can get expensive, but it was 100% worth it. {in my opinion--they do have different packages to choose from, if you bring your own dress it's a whole lot cheaper.} And let me say this... Nolen was a trooper! He couldn't get over how hard her hair was at the end-- it was pretty hilarious. We were laughing at how we all had "pixie dust" all over us the whole week. Nothing like a Daddy with sparkles all over his face and shirt! :-)

After BBB we rode a few more rides and saw Tiana, then we headed to the castle for dinner with all the princesses. Libby was SO excited!

Notes on BBB:

BBB was totally worth it. Nothing is greater than seeing your child so excited! She was in HEAVEN!!  {Even though she came out looking like she was on the show Toddlers and Tiaras! ha!} {we did the full package-- but it would be just as "magical" if you brought your own dress and they just did hair, make up, etc.} Book your appointment early-- they fill up FAST!

Notes on princess dinner:

 Princess dinner was great! Libby LOVED it. She got so excited each time they introduced a new princess. Dinner was actually really good too for the adults. Book this ASAP too. Only reservation we could get was at 8:30, and I booked 3 months in advance {the time ended up being fine-- Libby is a night owl anyway}. It's a must do for any little girl who loves princesses! And it's great b/c we knocked out meeting all the princesses in one night {except a few}. No waiting in lines {the wait for meeting these princesses was up to an hour the next day during normal park hours. no thank you!} and you get more one on one attention with them. Our waiter even sang Happy birthday to her with some ice cream and a candle. She felt super special!

This was probably Libby's favorite thing. Totally worth it!

disney world: day one

We're baacck!! We had a great trip to Disney World. It was so fun! {and exhausting I might add}. This was Libby's birthday present from us {even though it was a month after her bday}. I took a TON of pictures, so I'm going to divide my post up by each day. {and so I will have a journal of our vaca day by day}. Get ready for a lot of disney world post this week!

The first day we went to Magic Kingdom. {The most magical park of them all of course!} Libby's reaction when she saw the castle from the monorail was priceless. She was so excited! She has been patiently waiting the day until she saw THE castle that she has been seeing on TV for so long. :-) Here are some pictures from our first day!

We had a great first day at DW! It was probably our busiest day since we had BBB and princess dinner plus a lot of exploring and first time excitement for Libby. We were pretty exhausted-- I'm sure you can tell by this last picture. We are all nasty and sweaty and tired!

Magic Kingdom notes:

Get there 30 minutes before park opens. {we never made it that early, since we stayed off site and we had pretty late nights ever night. We usually got there around 9, when the parks open.} Next time we will though, they have a opening show! Get an autograph book at one of the stores on Main street. Then get in line for Rapunzel. After R, start out in Fantasyland {behind the castle} This is where there are more kid friendly rides-- tea cups,dumbo, peter pan, it's a small world, winnie the pooh, etc. Also, if you want to meet fairy godmother, she is behind the castle in fantasyland {only in the morning though}. 

Things/Rides we did:

 met Rapuzel {it's right when you walk in on Main street to the left-- this was the first thing we did-- nothing like kicking your day off with a 45 minute wait to meet Repunzal}, tea cups, dumbo {twice}, jungle cruise, magic carpets, swiss family tree house, mickey's pillhar magic {good one to take a rest-- inside in the AC}, carousel, barnstormer {this was libby's first roller coaster-- she was scared-- but ended up doing great- even though she will admit it was her least fave}, buzz lightyear, snow white {heard this was scary, but she wanted to do it-- ended up being too scary-- closed her eyes the whole time.}, met Tiana {she is in adventure land under a blue pavilion tot he left right when you walk in}, we watched the parades during the day, the shows at the front of the castle {check for times at the front of the castle}, we did biddidi boddidi boutique {it's own post!}, then dinner with the princess in the castle {it's own post}, we saw the fire works for a few minutes {we were leaving dinner in the castle when they were starting} it was too late and crowded to stay for the whole thing-- we got to see a little bit of it while walking out of the park though which satisfied us!

Next up... bididdi bodiddi boutique and princess dinner!